In response to competitive pressures and the demands of continual product improvement philosophies such as Total Quality Management, food product manufacturers in the food processing industry are striving to increase production quality and production rates without significantly increasing costs. Food products which are manufactured in a continuous line often require treatment at various temperatures for prescribed periods of time. To increase a manufacturer's output it is necessary to increase the speed of treatment or to increase the capacity of treatment equipment. Increased treatment speed requires increasingly efficient heat transfer processes, and may affect the taste and texture attributes of the final. product. One way to increase capacity is to add additional treating units to an existing line. Installation of new machines, however, may require the relocation of numerous apparatus, and in some cases may require costly expansion of plant facilities. Ideally, increased capacity treatment equipment should take up no greater floor space than the equipment it replaces.
Certain food products, for example dry beans (for manufacturing pork and beans) have conventionally been cooked in two or three blanchers because it is important to gradually increase the temperature of the product to avoid cracking and fracturing. Multiple blanchers require additional floor space and conveying equipment between blanchers.
What is needed is a single compact apparatus for heating foot products in a continuous process which allows incremental increase of temperature treatment ranges.